36 Hours
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| 36 Hours | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | George Seaton |
| Produced by | William Perlberg |
| Written by | George Seaton (screenplay) |
| Starring | James Garner Rod Taylor Eva Marie Saint |
| Music by | Dimitri Tiomkin |
| Cinematography | Philip H. Lathrop |
| Editing by | Adrienne Fazan |
| Distributed by | MGM |
| Running time | 115 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
36 Hours is a 1965 war film, based on a short story by Roald Dahl, starring James Garner, Eva Marie Saint and Rod Taylor, and directed by George Seaton.
[edit] Plot
Having just been to General Eisenhower's final briefing on D-Day operations, US Army Major Jefferson Pike (James Garner) is called away from London for an emergency meeting that night with an agent in Lisbon. It turns out to be a Nazi trap; the agent never shows up, and Pike is drugged and slugged.
Pike wakes up in a US Army hospital in postwar, occupied Germany five years later, with no memory of the intervening period. The psychiatrist handling his case, Major Walter Gerber (Rod Taylor), explains that he has been having episodes of memory loss for the past few years, ever since he sustained physical trauma in Portugal in June, 1944. He advises Pike not to worry as his memory always comes back in a few weeks, helped along by a treatment that mostly consists of remembering events before Lisbon, and then pushing on into the blank period. He is assisted by nurse Anna Hedler (Eva Marie Saint).
Pike is gratified that his pre-Lisbon memories, at least, are intact and clear. For instance, he remembers the D-Day briefing as if it happened only yesterday. As part of the therapy, he recounts the details of the D-Day invasion, particularly the all-important location of Normandy (rather than the expected Pas de Calais) as well as the date, June 5, to Pike and Otto Schack (Werner Peters).
Pike finally realizes that it's all a trick when he notices that a nearly-invisible paper cut he got in 1944 hasn't healed yet. With the assistance of Anna, a concentration camp inmate, he manages to convince the SS man Schack that he knew all along, but Gerber is not as easily fooled. He plays one last trick, setting the clock in Pike's room back several hours. When Pike thinks the deadline has passed, he lets his guard down and Gerber learns that his suspicions were correct. Fortunately for Pike and the Allies, the weather is too rough and Eisenhower postpones the invasion a day.
When the Allies do land on the 6th, Gerber knows that Schack will soon return, looking for a scapegoat to save his own life, so he lets Anna and Pike go, taking with them his psychological research papers. He then takes poison. Gerber however still wants to silence the two escapees. In his haste to tie up loose ends, he pursues the couple by himself.
Anna and Pike find an honestly corrupt, middle-aged German border guard, Sgt. Ernst (John Banner), who is willing to look the other way in return for Pike's watch. Schack catches up with them as they approach the barbed wire, but Ernst shoots him, allowing them to cross to freedom.
[edit] Trivia
- D-Day was actually delayed a day because of the inclement weather, which was also a major plot point of the film Garner had made just before this one, The Americanization of Emily (1964).
- Banner would find more lasting fame as another easygoing, German, World War II guard, Sgt. Schultz in the TV series Hogan's Heroes.
- Rod Taylor was considered for the role of "Bart Maverick" in the 1957 television series Maverick, in which Garner starred. The role ultimately went to Jack Kelly.
- The plot of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Future Imperfect" is highly reminiscent of 36 Hours.
